>> from pacifica, this is "democracy now!" >> we are not that bad off here, but we all have been unemployed brother or friend. it was easy to get a job before, even though it was a bad one, and now you just don't. everyone is fed up with cuts, especially in health care and education. there is a big anger everywhere critic rex from spain to portugal to greece, italy, belgium and france -- a general strike sweeps across europe. millions of protest spending cuts and tax hikes they say of deepened the region's economic crisis. we will get an update from spain, where one out of four workers is unemployed. then the scandal that brought down cia director david petraeus spreads to the top commander in afghanistan. >> the president has put on hold general allen's nomination pending the investigation of his

conduct by the department of defense. >> we will be joined by writer glenn greenwald, now of "the guardian." he says the stars of the national security establishment are being devoured by out of control surveillance. then noam chomsky visits gaza. >> it is kind of amazing and inspiring to see people managing somehow to survive, essentially as caged animals, subjected to constant random, says district -- sadistic punishment only to humiliate them. all of that and more coming up. >> this is "democracy now!," democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. president obama will open deficit reduction talks friday with a call for one point -- $ 1.6 trillion tax hike on

corporations and the wealthiest americans in the next 10 years. the figure is double the total offered by house republicans during masters debt talks. on tuesday, democrats signaled they would reject republican calls to preserve the bush tax cuts for top earners in exchange for removing deductions. it is unclear if obama will revive his previous willingness to raise the retirement age to 67 and cap benefit hikes under social security. obama and house speaker john boehner are due to begin negotiations friday on averting the so-called fiscal cliff of expiring tax cuts and automatic spending reductions set to take effect at the end of the year. speaking in washington, treasury secretary timothy geithner stressed the urgency of reaching a deal. >> i know the cliff is unattractive. it would cause a lot of damage to the american economy. a careful about those who argue and urge for "let's just extend

while we negotiate." it will leave a different source of uncertainty on the table, like what would give the people the incentive to come back and do something tough. >> millions of workers in europe have joined a general strike today protesting the wave of spending cuts and tax hikes that has swept the continent in the name of austerity. spanish and portuguese workers are coordinating their strike with work stoppages also planned in greece, italy, france and belgium. we will have more on the strike after headlines. closing arguments have ended in a pretrial hearing to determine whether u.s. staff sergeant robert bales will face a court- martial for allegedly slaughtering 16 afghan civilians, including nine children, in march. military prosecutors are seeking the death penalty while defense attorneys have argued that alcohol abuse, drug use, and posttraumatic stress disorder all may have played a key role in fueling his actions. the presiding officer says he'll

issue a recommendation on whether to proceed to court martial by the end of the week. deadly fighting in syria reportedly left at least 63 people dead across the country tuesday, including 41 in the capital damascus. syrian tanks continue to shell the palestinian refugee camp which has seen heavy violence this month. france has become the first western country to recognize syria's newly brokered opposition coalition as the sole representative of the syrian people. the coalition was formed over the weekend at a summit in doma. at least 24 people at and killed and more than 100 wounded in a series of bombings across iraq. a multiple explosions were reported in at least four different areas, including baghdad and kirkuk. israel and palestinian leaders in gaza have agreed to attack -- agreed to a tacit truce following days of violence in the gaza strip. at least seven palestinians have been killed in israeli attacks

on gaza since saturday. eight israeli civilians have also been wounded by palestinian rockets. the temporary ceasefire was brokered by the egyptian government, but both sides say they're prepared to resume attacks if it fails. the united nations general assembly has voted overwhelmingly to condemn the u.s. embargo against cuba for the 21st year in a row. the final vote was 188 to 3, with only israel and the pacific island state of palau joining the united states. u.s. envoy abroad -- robert goddard urged fellow general assembly delegates to reject the measure. >> this resolution also serves to distract the real problems facing the cuban people, therefore, my delegation will oppose it. we encourage this body to support the desires of the cuban people to determine their own future freely. by doing so, it would truly advanced the principles of the united nations charter and the

purposes for which the united nations was created. >> speaking for the cuban government, the cuban foreign minister called on president obama to break from decades of u.s. isolation of cuba. >> president obama has an opportunity to start a new policy toward cuba, different from the one implemented by his 10 predecessors for more than half a century. it will surely be a difficult task, and maybe he would face serious obstacles, but the president of the united states still has the constitutional powers that would enable him the public opinion and generate the necessary dynamics by means of executive decision, even without the approval of congress. >> addressing the assembly on behalf of latin america and caribbean states, the chilean envoy said overwhelmingly u.n. opposition to the embargo reflects the consensus of

virtually the entire world. >> we emphasize the consistency between the application of the unilateral measures which has no backing international law and the spirit of principles and purposes of the charter of the united nations. we urge the u.s. to make the necessary adjustments in this regard, allowing this legislation with the charter of the united nations, the resolutions of the united nations, and the views of countries of latin america and the caribbean in general of all the regions of the world. >> the united nations is warning that haiti's upcoming march harvest may already have been destroyed by the flooding of hurricane sandy. it left haiti overrun with devastating floods, causing widespread damage and adding thousands of people to the massive numbers already displaced by previous floods and the devastating earthquake of january 2010. on tuesday, the u.n. relief official said in addition to potentially destroying march's harvest, the new flooding has

led to a spike in waterborne disease. >> the march harvest may already be lost. this is why we urgently are asking for money for people to go back to the fields to start working those irrigation canals that need to be drained. now that half the country has been flooded and water in some areas are 10 days away from sandy, some areas are still completely inundated with water and sanitation systems broken or needing drainage, we obviously fear and to break out of waterborne diseases, including spikes in cholera. between the october 28 and the eighth of november, we had 4000 cases, which is almost double the average that we have seen for the remainder of the year.

>> york governor andrew cuomo has launched a commission to probe the role of state utilities during major storms, including superstorm sandy and last year's hurricane irene. the 10-member panel will investigate how the utilities have prepared for the storms of how they responded when widespread damage ensued. andrew cuomo said the commission's findings could lead to a major regulatory overhaul. >> what ever their recommendations are, i want to get back to the legislation the beginning of next year, incorporate them, and come up with a better system. many of these systems were failing to begin with. >> the utilities most highly criticized for the response of the storm, long island power authority, or light up. on tuesday, the ceo michael hervey resigned, effective at the end of the year. more than 130,000 remain in the dark still two weeks after sandy hit.

men who said there were tortured in u.s. prisons have filed a complaint of the united nations over canada's failure to investigate and indict former president george w. bush during his speaking appearance there last year. the four had unsuccessfully sought to prosecute bush when he appeared at a vancouver conference in october of 2011. the canadian center for international justice and the new york based center for constitutional rights say it's the first time torture allegations against a high-level u.s. official have been filed with the u.n. committee against torture. new data from the internet search firm google shows online, surveillance is increasing with the u.s. far surpassing the rest of the world in requests for affirmation about users. more than a third of the nearly 21,000 requests for user data google received in the first half of 2012 came from the united states. in total during the six months, the u.s. submitted nearly 8000 requests that applied to more

than 16,000 users or accounts. google complied at least partly with 90% of those requests. both requests for user information and requests by countries to remove online content have increased since 2009 when google began its reports. in a blog post about reports thursday, google wrote -- and those are some of the headlines. this is "democracy now!," democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with nermeen shaikh. >> welcome to all our listeners and viewers from around the country and around the world. we begin the show in europe, where today, millions of workers have joined a general strike to protest spending cuts and tax hikes they say have deepened the region's economic crisis. spanish and portuguese workers are coordinating their strike with work stoppages under way in greece, italy, france, and belgium. in spain, one out of four workers is unemployed, and

protesters say they're furious at banks being rescued by the government while ordinary people suffer. >> stop stealing and do something useful. please, do not steal from us. it is a shame. it is a shame to see how they will lead the country. >> there are some reason behind today's strike. a cuts, the situation, as far as it is concerned, the announcement that 4500 jobs will go and salaries will be cut and so on. i think we have so many reasons. >> today's strike comes as most european governments have cut pensions and benefits, while also raising taxes. this includes not just the most financially troubled governments, like greece, but also more stable ones like britain and france. the french socialist prime minister jean-marc ayrault responded saying officials face tough challenges trying to control their debt.

>> one must not forget where governing in a time that is extremely difficult. in france, in europe, and the world. and ever since the 1950's has the government had to face up to such difficulties. we're confronting them with determination. what is essential and what the president has said yesterday it is that france is not just in the country, but a great country, a specific social model. today, this social model is in danger. there are many things to correct, change, and reform. >> mean while in spain, the country's general workers' union said today's general strike was being observed by nearly all workers in the automobile, energy, shipbuilding, and construction industries. this is a union spokesperson. >> we are not that bad off here, but we all have an unemployed brother or friend. everyone says the same.

that was easy to get a job before even though it was a bad one, and i just don't. everyone is fed up with cuts, especially in health care, education. people talk a lot about that. >> this is the second general strike this year in spain. it comes after 53-year-old woman jumped from a balcony to her death as she was about to be evicted. the death of amaia egana mark the second suicide in two weeks related to evictions in spain as a growing mass movement put pressure on the authorities to act. for more we go to madrid where we're joined by maria carrion, independent journalist, former "democracy now!" producer from her latest piece is called "spaniards take on." start with the story of this woman who committed suicide. >> it is good to be with you. amaia egana member in the basque

country and her case is especially tragic because she actually did not sure just how bad off the situation was even with her husband. so most people had no idea there have been a repossession an eviction process. she was so desperate and so ashamed of the situation that she jumped out of her balcony, her fourth floor apartments, as court employees can to evict her. this comes two weeks after police found a man dead in his apartment as they went in to evict him from his own after repossession. the movement to stop these evictions and repossessions has been working hard on this for almost two years. this is just the watershed. this has been the one situation that has actually forced the

government and opposition and banks to come to the table and talk about real reform. before this, yet evictions taking place -- 500 orders every single day -- silently. thanks to the movement, the occupied movement in spain from just over a year ago, the platform against evictions was incredibly energized. they have been able to stop hundreds of the evictions. those are the evictions of people who come to them and say, "my home is been repossessed, can you help me?" they're a lot of people like amaia who do not do this perhaps out of a sense of guilt or embarrassment.t. her case is really emblematic of what has gone on in spain with thousands of people being left homeless after repossession and

eviction. >> maria carrion, can you explain the particularity of spanish law when it comes to home repossessions and debt repayment? even once a house is repossessed, people are obliged to pay back the dead? >> that's right ri. it is very much as a pro-bank law that dates back to the 20 century. i was that in the eviction or the attempt of an eviction of the family and there are basically under water. they had paid about 300,000 euros for their apartments. i'm sorry, 200,000 euros for their apartment. they had paid 90,000 on the apartment. the couple became the less they both lost employment and could not make the payment. after paying all that money to the bank, they find themselves in a situation where their home

is repossessed and they owe more than they paid, so now the 0 300,000 euros to the bank on top of it. once the homes repossessed and you are evicted, you still owe the full amount, including fines, late fees, you know -- you know the value of the home as it was before. in other words, if you bought the house 10 years ago or eight years ago and the house was worth a lot more than it is now, you owe the full amount. there are no procedures to review these cases. first of all, to look at whether the loan was made recklessly by banks -- and many were made recklessly. people would go into the bank to make a deposit, and the bank employee would say, "would you like to buy a house? we can give you the loan and you do not even have to give as a down payment."

a lot of these families were immigrant families. the whole movement -- there was a whole movement to get immigrants to open up bank accounts in spain back when ecuadoreans and colombians were fleeing their own crises in colombia. they were lured into the situations by the banks who may be irresponsible mortgages, and people thought they could pay them because at the time, they seemed affordable. the combination of rising mortgage prices and the unemployment rate being the way it is now, has made it so that's thousands and thousands and thousands of families are unable to make payment. what has happened now is we see these suicides. there was a suicide attempt or they jumped out of their balconies, fortunately, were not killed in the process. there is a negotiation process

going on between the government and the socialist opposition party. in this position, they're trying to stop evictions, or least stop the ones that families with no resources, families with children. if you're put on the street and have children, social services take away your children. they're trying to look at the most vulnerable people and, with a moratorium. also, for everyone, a renegotiation. there has been no due process at all for families. a lot of the times, the evidence they have, the information they have is not looked at by the banks. >> maria -- >> millions and millions -- >> can you talk a little bit about what the scene was in madrid outside bankia, a number

of people facing eviction and what the scene is in madrid? you're on the streets. what does it look like in the midst of this general strike? >> several families have camped out now for quite some time in front of bankia, one of the big banks that was billed out the former imf director was the head of bankia. they are responsible for 80% of the evictions in madrid. they have been camping out now for a number of weeks in front of bankia. having people sign petitions to stop their own evictions from taking place. they have completely been surrounded by riot police. the movement was planning a demonstration leaving out of that particular place. i don't know if they are able to do it now because there are so surrounded by riot police. there are a number of demonstrations right now going on in the streets free and there's a big demonstration

tonight at 6:00 p.m., the health workers are marching, education markers are marching. elementary and high schools are completely on strike. there are very few people inside the buildings. they have been surrounded by human chains. the eviction campaigns, the anti-eviction campaign has crystallized the movement. 15m has put its resources to work, it's human power to work by stopping these evictions. it has reinvigorated social movements in spain. you have everyone marching together. before, these strikes would only attract union members the -- or certain union members. they have everyone in the streets. unemployed, families, people working but are afraid of losing their jobs -- everyone is in the streets.

>> maria carrion, can you put spain in the context of europe right now, this general strike against europe -- sweeping across europe? >> it is much of a southern european strike. italy has work stoppages. the rest of europe is coming out in solidarity with southern europe. those countries in doubt or on the verge of being bailed out like spain, are the ones who are seeing these terrible cuts. by the way, today is when the spanish parliament will debate and vote on our 2013 budget, which has 39 billion euros in cuts. that is about $50 billion in cuts. you have seen germans come out, belgians, out in solidarity with southern europe. next week is a big budget meeting.

the countries will be getting together, eu countries will be getting together. the bloc from the sousing, please, do not cut further dollar-saying, let's try to stimulate the economy and create employment. and in countries that are more euro-skeptic like britain sign, let's look only within our means, which means more austerity cuts. >> maria carrion, thank you for being with us, "democracy now!" correspondent to her latest piece is in the progressive magazine. this is "democracy now!," democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. when we come back, we will be joined by glenn greenwald of "the guardian." the petraeus, alan scandal and more. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

>> this is "democracy now!," democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with nermeen shaikh. >> we turn now to the latest developments in the scandal that has brought down cia director david petraeus and ensnared general john allen, the top u.s. commander in afghanistan. the pentagon says the fbi has uncovered thousands of potentially inappropriate emails between allen and jill kelley, the woman who complained of harassment from petraeus' lover, paula broadwell. her complaint to the fbi led to the discovery of broadwell and petraeus' relationship, prompting petraeus' resignation on friday. allen succeeded petraeus in

afghanistan last year. the pentagon says allen will remain the u.s. commander in afghanistan for now, but that plans to nominate him to become nato's supreme allied commander are on hold pending the outcome of the investigation. responding to the revelations, white house spokesperson jay carney reaffirmed on tuesday president obama's faith in general allen. >> i can tell you the president thinks very highly of general allen and his service to his country, as well as the job he has done in afghanistan. at the request of the secretary of defense, the president has put on hold general allen's nomination as supreme allied commander in europe pending the investigation of his conduct by the department of defense. >> to talk more about the significance of this inquiry, and much more, we're joined by glenn greenwald, columnist and blogger for the guardian. he is author of, "with libery and justice for some: how the law is used to destroy equality and protect the powerful." is most recent piece is called, "fbi's abuse of the surveillance state is the real scandal needing investigation."

glenn greenwald, welcome back to "democracy now!" elaborate. >> i think there's a lot of focus on the salacious aspect of this case for a reason that is obvious, which is that the media loves sex scandals. but there are real issues arising from this of generous -- to new importance for the fbi, based on really no evidence of any actual crime, engaged in this massive surveillance effort of first, attend all kinds of private information about two women, one of whom complained it was the target of the complaint, jill kelley and paula broadwell, learned of the locations and e-mail accounts of paula broadwell, the subject of this fairly innocuous complaint. they read through your emails and learn the identity of her anonymous letter, david petraeus. certainly read through her emails and probably read through his. in the process as well, learned

about an affair between the complaint, jill kelley -- not an affair, but inappropriate communications, and the four- star general in afghanistan, general allen, and obtained 20,000 a 30,000 pages of emails. you're talking a massively invested -- basic investigation without their knowledge. it was all without evidence of predicate crime rate really without the need, except in a few cases, for judicial view or oversight. that rattled -- illustrates how invasive this has become. this surveillance happens all the time. generally is less powerful than the two in question here. i hope we can learn lessons about what we allow the government to do in terms of its investigative powers. >> earlier this year, paula broadwell discussed her book on general david petraeus -- she is david petraeus' biographer the

-- with jon stewart of the daily show. >> fairly people think there will be the one to outsmart or i will be the one to outsmart, i will gain access and never -- but it -- i mean, the most controversial thing i would say is, is the awesome or incredibly awesome? >> i have the detail. he can turn water into all the water. >> what? we did find out his big bang is peaches. [laughter] >> it was peaches when he was in high school and followed him to west point and stuck with them. >> in a separate interview, paula broadwell explained why she admires and respects general david petraeus. >> when i realize the opportunity i have to tell this message, to present this for to of strategicness, is a terrific role model for executives, for

men and women. no matter what, there's a great role model there who is value- oriented, speaks the truth to power. >> glenn greenwald? >> one thing i think is so interesting, what she saying in her book and in those interviews, she fit very comfortably into the media view of david petraeus, she met had a deeply personal relationship with him but the affection she had was shared by most of the people in the media who were covering and discussing him. one of the national secure reporters action to recommend a bleak candid piece this week confession published command -- commendably piece this week. i think it really shows this reverence for all things military, specifically for general petraeus. >> you spoke in one of your most recent pieces about how popular

the military is. in fact, it is the single most popular and affirmed institution. 78% of americans profess "a great deal or a lot of confidence in the military calls >> according to a gallup poll. one of the few journalists apart from yourself that has expressed some skepticism about general david petraeus is a reporter for rolling stone and buzz feed. you recently appeared on piers morgan's show. he said there are reasons that he should have resigned, reasons that have nothing to do with his affair with paula broadwell. >> i think are many reasons that petraeus should have resigned aside the fact of who he is sleeping with is not his wife. i want to make a point, and larger point i've been making is essentially the media has played a role in protecting david petraeus and promoting david petraeus and we saw it here tonight. a spokesperson in baghdad came

in, a remake of petraeus who was involved in one of the biggest the bottles in recent foreign- policy history is on tv defending david petraeus without actually addressing the real problems with the petraeus' record. those are the fact he manipulated the white house about afghanistan, ran a campaign in iraq there was brutally savage including the worst of the worse, sunni militiamen, shiite death squads. then you go back to the training of the iraqi army that had similar problems. for me, all the while he is going around the country talking about honor and integrity. >> that was michael hastings speaking on piers morgan. >> i think michael hastings is a fascinating case he wrote a cover story about general mcchrystal on "the rolling stone" who ended general mcchrystal's career. what was amazing is nobody doubted the authenticity of the

quotes included in this article, yet huge numbers of the most prominent media figures who covered the war in afghanistan attack michael hastings facetiously -- attacked michael hastings viciously, accusing him of violating the trust of the general. not because he reported things that are supposed to be off the record, but they say you develop a bond with these generals but they talk about how you have to sleep in the same tense with them, that you they really have an expectation should honor as a reporter to protect and shield them and a reputation. that is what these journalists the themselves as doing, serving as spokespeople for these military figures and that is why they're so angry at michael hastings. he was attacked again because of the cnn interview, described as this unhinged person as muddying the sacred waters of journalism. what you really see is their

perception there is no national religion in the u.s. the national religion in the u.s. is the military and the journalists are the high priests. >> what does this mean for afghanistan and the cia? you have this military general becoming the head of the cia, now david petraeus -- the have whatever will happen to john allen. what does this mean? >> i'm not sure means anything as far as the policy national security state. i think it will simply be replaced. i'm not sure that general allen is going anywhere. certainly, david petraeus was an important person in the sense he was a revered, almost as a religious figure, that he shielded the cia and other military institutions from any kind of criticism i think -- >> and has been pushing for an expansion of the drone war. >> and president obama, the

commander in chief, his boss, is very much on board with the expansion not just of the drone war, the conversion of the cia and to even more of a paramilitary organization than it has ever been before. i think that will continue fully apace on whoever steps and will be fully on board with that. >> can you say a little bit about the significance of obama's re-election last week? >> i think a lot of it depends not on what president obama does. there is some expectation he is suddenly going to reveal his to -- his true progressive self now that he is relieved from the re- election. i think this is fantasy thinking. i think we of seen the true obama. i think the question is, will the democratic party, specifically the progressive and liberal components, change its behavior from cheerleader, from blindly supportive partisan

apparatchiks -- which is what they were in the first term -- cheering a matter how contrary what he did was to their values, into some kind of force for the fulfill their duties as citizens. which is to hold political leaders accountable. i think the first test will be this week, the budget fight. where is almost certainly the case that president obama will do what he already attempted to do, which is part of the crown jewels of liberalism, which are social security, medicare, for cuts come in order to pursue this grand bargain with the republican party. will the liberal wing of the democratic party do anything more to the less than just make into gestures as opposing it, but a good person soldiers as they always do or provide real opposition?

>> let's go to john boehner who argued against any tax hikes as part of a deal to avoid the so- called fiscal cliff. >> instead of raising tax rates on the american people and accepting the damage of what it will do to our economy, let's start to solve the problem. let's focus on tax reform that closes special-interest loopholes and lowers tax rates. instead of accepting arbitrary cuts that will endanger our national defense, let's get serious by shoring up the entitlement programs that are the primary drivers of our country's massive growing debt. >> house speaker john boehner. right now, there has been a lot of concern, especially among the progressives, but beyond that, insuring that people pay their fair share. but the trade-off, it is clear president obama has said, is cuts to what they call entitlement programs -- medicare, medicaid, social security. talk about these -- our guest

yesterday sir anderson called, earned income benefits, actually, not entitlements. >> social security is something people have paid into their entire lives, not just people on the verge of receiving the benefits, even workers have been in the work force for some time. what is extraordinary about this moment to make, what really define president of his first term from a domestic and economic perspective is the recovery from the financial crisis was one that was a recovery for the wealthiest in america -- corporate profits boomed, wall street and the stock market increased at a time when the foreclosure crisis continued to worsen, very little attention was paid to that, very little has been done about unemployment. so the income gap, the rich-poor gap in the u.s. is the highest it has been in 40 years, since 1967. people are still suffering.

now to approach this crisis by targeting the very few programs left that provide a civilized safety net to the people who need it the most, is obscene. i think if you see the democratic party, whether in the name of principal -- as i think obama will pursue it -- or simply a necessity of compromise -- which some will invoke in order to defended -- target those programs, even a minimal ways and symbolic ways, but i think it will be much more than that. i think that would be an assault on everything that progressives that only claim to believe in, but the primary reason the were voting for president obama, which was to protect the atomic programs. >> you make an argument about why it will be easier for obama to curtail these programs in a way would not have been possible, say, if romney have been elected. can you elaborate? >> to me this was the deficiency

of discussion and discourse leading up to the election and democratic and progressive circles. if you're a journalist working as we were in the last year, identifying things president obama that was doing or wrong or were the erroneous, the argument you immediately would hear is "well, mitt romney is worse." meaning, the position that romney had on those issues was either as bad as or worse than the one that president obama had. in one sense that was irrelevant rid if you're a citizen, he told the people to exercise power accountable. the fact that romney is worse does not meet that obligation. from an election perspective, it is a simple minded and incomplete way of looking at things. the question is not, is mitt romney positive view on any particular issue or are the the positions of the republicans worse, it is, what can each candidate accomplished

in their particular field? there is the cliche about only richard nixon could have established relationships with communist china because only a republican could do it. i think only a democratic president could have assassinated u.s. citizens, proceed to whistleblowers -- bush official said there's a lot of stuff we wanted to do but knew we could not do because had we tried, there would be an enormous storm from democrats, the media, and we just could not do it. obama can do because he brings progressives and democrats with him read there would have been enormous eruption of anger and intent sustained opposition by democrats and progressives accusing romney of all sorts of things had been him. obama has the ability to bring democrats and progressives along with him and the them to support and get on board with things they have sworn they would never, ever be able to support. for that reason, he is in a much better position, much more effective at institutionalizing

this horrible policies than mitt romney or any republican would have the ability to do. let me add, there is this amazing analysis from john goldsmith, from the harvard faculty, who said when president of his re-election will mean is the policies of dick cheney and george bush that are not so controversial, will be permanently shielded from criticism in what -- in a way that romney could never have achieved because democrats and progressives under obama will ignore those policies and cheer for them, whereas if romney had been elected, their interest in these issues and opposition to them would have been revitalized. i think this is the pattern see over and over. even if obama is the lesser of two evils, he is more effective of the two evils. i think that is the analysis that was missing so profoundly up to the election.

>> we will take a break, then come back to glenn greenwald. back in a moment. ♪ [music break]

>> this is "democracy now!," democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with nermeen shaikh. our guest is glenn greenwald, author of, "with libery and justice for some: how the law is used to destroy equality and protect the powerful." glenn, bradley manning read the latest news is he would be willing to plead guilty to some charges. >> bradley manning is the 23- year-old army sergeant who has been held for 2.5 years by the u.s. military without having been convicted of anything yet. he was held in solitary confinement that an

investigation found was cruel and inhumane. he is not only been charged with leaking classified information, but with a much more serious capital offense for which the death penalty is possible of aiding and abetting the enemy. it is based on this pernicious theory that although he did not intend to aid al qaeda, by publicizing classified affirmation, al qaeda could receive that information and use it to its advantage. the theory that means anyone who releases classified information, including newspapers or anyone in government, can essentially be accused of treason and executed. it is an extremely radical theory. he is at the age of 23 worried about spending his life in prison, therefore, considering in order to escape from this more serious charges, the balloting that he did in fact disclose this information -- which no one in the government has ever been able to prove has led to harm to anyone. if he did it, has produced more

transparency and crucial journalistic scoops for the world than any access since daniel ellsberg four years ago, therefore, have the trough focus only on the question of the real flaw in the government's case, which is, was their intent to aid al qaeda? he could have passed information to al qaeda, sold to foreign governments. their way secret of benefited personally. if the chat logs were be to believe, he says what motivated him was his shocked to discover the government, in his military he had enlisted, was engaged in deceitful and corrective ads in the the the world to know that those corrupt acts and he needed the world to know that. the way in which the american left and democrats now revere daniel ellsberg for his act of her rope was a line and have completely ignored the case of bradley manning, whose act, as those for says, is every bit as

courageous and probably more consequential in terms of what it reveals, is appalling. >> he as been held for three years. he will not publish says he will not plead guilty to treason or aiding the enemy. >> correct. he will acknowledge he actually disclosed the classified information. >> to wikileaks. and the latest on julian assange? >> he is still held up in the ecuadorean embassy. there are some negotiations still ongoing between the british government and the ecuadoreans. the key is, julian assange himself, his lawyers, ecuadoreans and assange's defenders all want him to go to sweden. they have been working for almost six months now in order to get him to be able to go to stockholm to face these allegations. the holdup is not assange, that the british and the swedes, especially the united states,

refused to provide him any meaningful protection. if he goes to sweden, protection that it will not be used as a ruse to get the u.s. to face espionage charges. the minute they become more reasonable and give him some minimal protections for his human rights, he will be on the next plane to stockholm to face these allegations. >> i want to turn to another case having to do with the use of torture in iraq. last week, a federal appeals court dismissed a lawsuit against former defense secretary donald rumsfeld for his role and crafting policies that led to torture and iraq. a-3 decision, the with second circuit court of appeals ruled 3 two allegedly -- have ruled that to allegedly tortured have no rights to sue rumsfeld and other u.s. officials agreed the

plaintiffs were reportedly arrested and tortured after collaborating with the fbi in an investigation of their employer in iraq, the private security company shield group security. surely after, there were arrested and detained by u.s. troops at camp cropper where they faced physical and psychological torture. the two men were eventually released and never charged with the crime. last wednesday's decision overturns two previous court rulings allowing the case to proceed. the obama administration has followed the bush administration in seeking the lawsuit's dismissal. your response to these developments? >> this is an extremely common development, unfortunately. congress, media, the citizenry to relish the federal judiciary is probably the most disgraceful since 9/11. they're supposed to be the branch that was designed to hold the last couple executive branch accountable.

the most shocking is not that they did not -- the most amazing fact is not a single victim of the war on terror abuses have been allowed even to have their day in court, let alone to achieve justice. in each and every case, the courthouse doors have been slammed in their face by having either claims of radical secrecy or government immunity, the idea our government officials are immune from the law, from any consequences, even when they commit the most egregious crimes. i think that is what history will view as the most profound failure. >> thank you for being with us, glenn greenwald his latest book, "with libery and justice for some: how the law is used to destroy equality and protect the powerful." this is "democracy now!," democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. as we wrap up today with known chomsky. >> israel and palestinian leaders have agreed to a tacit truce following days of violence

in the gaza strip. at least seven palestinians have been killed in is really attacks on gaza since saturday. eight israeli civilians have been wounded by palestinian rockets. the temporary cease-fire was broken by the egyptian government but both sides say they're prepared to resume attacks. >> on sunday, i spoke with noam chomsky. he was speaking at the 32nd anniversary of the coalition of peace action. he recently returned from his first visit to gaza, which he entered from the egyptian side. this is noam chomsky talking about his experience there. >> it is kind of amazing and inspiring to see people managing somehow to survive, as essentially caged animals, subject to constant, random,

sadistic punishment only to humiliate them. israel and the united states keep them alive, basically. they don't want them to starve to death, but their life is set up so that you cannot have a dignified decent life. one of the words your most often is "dignity." they would like to have dignified lives. the standard is really position is they should not raise their heads. it is a pressure cooker that could blow up. people cannot live like that forever. >> you describe it in a piece he wrote as an open air prison. >> it is an open-air prison. people have been in jail [indiscernible] the overwhelming feeling everyone gets is someone else is in total control. there is an arbitrary authority

who can control anything you do -- stand up, sit down, find something to eat, go to the bathroom you cannot do anything, they all determinate. people find ways to adapt, but it is just -- it is constant subjugation to an external force, which has no purpose except to humiliate you. of course, they have pretext. everybody has pretext. >> this is the first time you were there, though you have written about this for decades. >> i have tried to get in a couple of times from the israeli side, but it was always closed. this is the first time i made it into the region. >> how hard was it to get in from egypt? >> a lot of bureaucratic

hassles the border is still apparently controlled by the old security services who were under mubarak, close to assad, the caa. it is hard to know how much is bureaucrats try to make life difficult dullish trying to make life difficult, and how much is planned harassment. for the gazans, it is no joke. if you want to go somethinthrouh something like past for control, is like three hours. >> while you're there, another freedom flotilla ship tried to get in from scandinavia. what was the response on land? >> it was a lot of excitement. people are very happy to know

that someone knows they are there, and that people are willing to risk something. it is not a joke. they're trying to break through. we had a press conference at the port. to my amazement, it was uncovered in the most reactionary newspaper in israel. but for the people there, it is just a sign that they have not been forgotten, maybe they will get out. >> we're speaking to the first time after president obama was reelected read your thoughts? >> their two good things. one, the worst did not happen read the second is, it is over. we can put it behind us and get back to work. the whole electoral extravaganza, in my view, ought

to take maybe five minutes of the time of an activist -- it is a farce. there are some differences, it is not the zero impact. you decide, ok, i'm going to deal with it this way for five minutes, finish, now go back to what matters. the changing of circumstances so we do not have to endure things like this every four years. >> an with something like gaza, as you have said you have covered forever, what gives you hope? >> the usual things. you see it everywhere. that you have seen everywhere a lot more than i have, people's resilience people just do not give up, even under the worst conditions, horrendous conditions. people fight for their rights they do not just succumb. it is a lesson for people from the west. we talk about repression,

undetectable by what most people the bush compared to what most people face. there really harsh and brutal conditions tells us we ought to be doing more. >> professor noam chomsky just back from his first trip to gaza. this is "democracy now!," democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. our previous best, glenn greenwald, will be speaking tonight at 7:30. democracy now! is looking for feedback from people who appreciate the closed captioning. e-mail your comments to outreach@democracynow.org or mail them to democracy now! p.o. box 693 new york, new york 10013. [captioning made possible by democracy now!]

tavis: good evening. from los angeles, i am tavis smiley. tonight the conversation about the fallout from last tuesday's election with columnist frank rich. rich